


You Could Have It So Much Better

by snoozingkitten



Series: The Future is Bulletproof [1]
Category: The Avengers - All Fandoms
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-15
Updated: 2012-07-15
Packaged: 2017-11-09 23:53:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/459904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snoozingkitten/pseuds/snoozingkitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha fails to grasp the obvious and Pepper tackles everything in her life like it is a military operation. (Tony doesn’t get an opinion on the subject either way.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Could Have It So Much Better

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta-ed, if you would like to apply for the job please pass a resume and character references to myself or my secretary; lingerie photoshoot would get you the job. Alternately, if you spot any typos please feel free to point them out.

Natasha figured it was the pictures from her illustrious (and terribly fake) ‘Tokyo modelling career’ that did it more than anything else she’d written on her CV. Her real CV would have blown Tony’s mind, and was available to no one. There was only so much hacking that could put her on Stark Industries radar; the firewalls around design specs were the equivalent of a castle mote with a fire-breathing sea dragon in it as Jimmy from IT explained to her. Which was fine, it was more fun doing half the work herself. It gave everything that sweet sense of urgency. If they dug around her story too much it would fall apart like so much wet paper, she was counting on the fact that Tony wouldn’t think past lingerie. 

Their profile indicated that he was highly intelligent; but far too trusting of. As naive as a forty-year-old weapons-developing multi-billionaire could be. 

Tony looked at her with unholy glee, Natasha kept an impassive face. He wasn’t the type who liked easy things enough to keep them. That much was obvious by his choice in personal assistant, and even the cars he drove. 

“I want one.” Tony said, and Natasha was too much of a professional to smile, but she was quietly and viciously satisfied to be proven correct. A proper man would have run a full background check and raised the flaws her hastily cobbled together cover story had. Tony Stark couldn’t see past her breasts and not-coy act. 

The man, weight-class above hers by at least two, sweaty with perspiration and identified as Tony’s driver came at her. Natasha didn’t hesitate, reflexes she could activate without thinking. It was a simple charge all his weight already unbalanced as if he were not expecting her to react. Silly and very unprofessional. 

It was a calculated move. If anything it would probably add to the mystery. She took him down by pulling his weight further forward and using that to swing around his back and drive him to the mat with a loud slam. Ms. Potts jumped, looking up startled while Tony gave her a manic grin. 

Natasha was sitting in her apartment (fresh off the S.H.I.E.L.D. assembly like with all the feminine touches that Natasha herself wouldn’t have been bothered to add) painting her toe-nails when the call came. 

“Hello, Natalie Rushmore speaking.” She intoned with enough clip in her voice to sound like she was doing something _very_ important. 

“Bonjour.” Tony replied in passable French. “You remember be don’t you?” Flirting was like breathing to him wasn’t it? “Of course you do sweety, need to know my name for sexual harassment suits. It looks so good on paper.” 

“Is there something you required Mr. Stark? I have filled all the proper paperwork with Ms. Potts.” The varnish smudged a little onto her cuticle. Natasha was almost folded in half as she rubbed it with the edge of her finger before it set. She’d go get this one professionally but she didn’t trust people near here feet with sharp tools. Call it paranoia or call it previous experience; she wasn’t picky. 

“I’m sure you’ve been very thorough indeed.” Natasha actually did roll her eyes then in the relative safety of her own (new) apartment. “But that’s what I need. I need you, only not like that; it can be like that if you want, but that’s not what I want see?” 

Natasha pressed her lips in a thin line listening to Tony ramble. There was a rushing sound in the background like he was in the suit or falling really fast. Driving too fast down the Malibu coastline towards the city centre according to the satellite fix he hadn’t managed to shake. “I’m sorry Mr. Stark I am very busy.” It was pearl pink and faintly glittery—very feminine. 

“I want you to be my new PA.” He said, giving the words like they were a gift. 

She’d reeled him in. Just a little more. A lot like fishing, tease the line in and then bash the thing over the head until it’s senseless. Tony Stark had been fairly senseless to begin with. 

“I’m not qualified, sir.” She drawled. 

“Don’t bother your pretty head, a little spit and polish and you’ll be Pepper in no time.” Natasha had to wonder even with her training if she could ever match the vicious level of efficiency that Ms. Potts displayed. Now there would have been an asset for S.H.I.E.L.D. if there ever was one. They should focus their efforts on her. Only she wasn’t the one with the million dollar high tech battle suit. 

“Sir,” She began. 

“Come on, the yearly bonus is astronomical.” Tony wheedled. 

“I’ll come in to talk about it.” She said at last. 

“Sweet then, bring the paper work. Have yourself a great day.” Tony said the last in a rush and hung up as there was a blare of horns. Natasha watched his tracer pull a sharp u-turn and swing back around the other way. 

Natasha gave the screen a wry little smile. 

She started work on Monday. As it turned out, following around Tony Stark and understanding the complex organizational system that governed all his personal documents was an exercise in code-breaking that would have rivalled any of the Great Wars cryptoanalysis efforts. Natasha grit her teeth and attacked the algorithm that controlled Tony’s schedule with every cryptologist’s trick she had ever picked up. It seemed like it evolved with her efforts. 

“Do you require assistance Ms. Rushman?” Her computer asked. Natasha caught her breath and stared at it. Fingers hovering over the keys and only years of training and steel-nerves stopping her from reaching for a weapon. 

“JARVIS?” She asked, because unless Stark-tech was even more advanced than reported. 

“Yes, congratulations on the promotion.” It said smoothly without any inflection at all. “I’ve been commanded to give you access to Ms. Potts’ previous systems. “Would you like a walk through?” 

Natasha grit her teeth but she could tell when she needed assistance. “Please.” 

“Of course.” The computer didn’t judge her past the same bland vocal patterns it displayed. Intel suggested that JARVIS was the only AI in existence and far surpassed anything anyone else had been able to cobble together. Stark would make a fortune to add to his fortune if he made more of them or allowed anyone to see the coding. Natasha was a decent hacker, but she couldn’t imagine the kind of time and coding that went into something like JARIVS. It was such a complex system with so many variables and layers. 

If she hadn’t been briefed she would have never known that it was an AI, the only ever machine to past the Turing test. And Stark guarded it like a jealous and clingy toddler with a favourite toy. 

JARVIS brought her through Tony’s schedule and the different highlighted parts. There were blocks of colour where Tony was confirmed in the lab; as he was right now. The living room was set up to double as an office. Ms. Potts actually thought of everything. 

The Malibu house was spacious and open, the windows expanding into the ocean in a way that made you feel like you were on top of the world. It’s a small wonder that Tony was in the intolerable ass he was. Just standing in the foyer could make you feel like you could rival god. 

“Is there anything else I should know?” She asked it after hours of JARVIS explaining some of the baser house systems. It was like living in a science and tech exhibition. 

“It has been 15 hours since Master Stark last ate and he has been awake for almost 72 hours now. He’s due for a meeting with Ms. Potts in less than 10 hours and he’s not responding to me.” 

“Is this normal?” Natasha couldn’t help the question; it was out of her mouth before she could stop it. 

“Define normal.” Replied JARVIS with a sort of dry catty tone that she didn’t thing a computer could make. Natasha blinked at it. Shocked. 

“What would Ms. Potts do?” She finally asked and JARVIS paused for a moment. 

“She would have me vent the smell of pizza down into the lab, this has a 90% probability of working. Would you have me order a pizza Ms. Rushman?”

“Do it.” She nodded. 

It was painfully obvious that something was wrong with Tony. Their herd of tame scientists had a look at the original plans for the arc reactor that Howard had left with them and warned S.H.I.E.L.D. that it had never meant to be used the way that Stark was using it. They had postulated the palladium poisoning long before Tony’s increasingly erratic behaviour alerted them that something was amiss. Still no one expected it as fast as it happened, even Fury had assumed that Tony would show a shred of self preservation and stop using the suit. In hindsight, that was a stupid assumption to make. 

Monaco was an unmitigated disaster. S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn’t said anything about a man with electricity whips. Natasha watched from the restaurant, barking into her phone. 

On the television screen Pepper and Happy were barely out of the way and the casing on Natasha’s phone cracked with the strength of her grip. Her mission wasn’t to back up Stark in a fight, nor was it to interfere with any of his business. She was an observer. Intelligence was worth its weight in gold and unfortunately Mr. Stark was Midas. She’s not even going to start on how stupid it was of him to be at the Grand Prix anyways. 

“Are you okay Ms. Potts?” Natasha had been looking for Tony; he was supposed to be in the hospital getting the crack to his head looked at. 

“I’m fine.” She said, hands flapping about, her eyes wide and showing too much white. Happy was sitting on a stretcher and giving the nurse bad pick-up lines in horribly accented French. “I’m fine.” She repeated while Natasha hovered near her elbow. She looked too pale.

“Are you sure?” She asked using a low and stern voice. Pepper blinked at her eyes zeroing in on Natasha’s eyes and fixating. “Shall I prep the jet for Malibu as well as alert Legal and PR? I’ve already contacted the major press coverage, we can’t do anything about the live footage but I’ve told them to hold for a statement from Stark Industries. The PR department doesn’t need you to do it, but I’ll forward any statements to your attention.” 

“What?” Each blink made her look a little farther from fainting. Pale green of her face clashed with her fiery ginger hair. 

“Press release Ms. Potts.” Natasha said again, slightly gentler forcing Pepper to use her as an anchor. 

“Right of course.” She visibly pulled herself together, hands coming up to smooth the fly-away strands of her hair. Natasha gave her a tight smile and Pepper nodded back. “Of course, you’ve contacted the major news centres here in Monaco and in LA?” 

“Yes.” Natasha responded. 

Pepper took a fortifying breath and he was back to being herself, standing tall on her shoes and looking down slightly at Natasha. “Fantastic. Thank you Ms. Rushman. Can you contact the air-field and have the jet prepped to take off before the day is over?”

“Of course.” Natasha smiled and Pepper gave her a soft look. 

“I’ll collect Tony.” Pepper said with a small sigh.

Natasha watched Pepper walk away, faintly jealous that she couldn’t wear shoes like that because Natasha could think of at least three ways to incapacitate an attacker with them. Her own much more sensible shoes clacked with the sound of determination as she whipped out her phone and called up the number to the airfield. 

Things barely had time to settle down again before it was Tony’s birthday. 

The debrief had said to gather as much intel on Tony’s condition as possible. “If this was your last birthday ever what would you do?” Tony asked her. He had long eyelashes and big brown eyes. It’s a small wonder he’s a terror, born pretty and unimaginably rich. Natasha pursed her lips. Aside from acting out in a semi-suicidal way (designed to draw attention to the fact that his mortality rearing its head in some sort of obscene mid-life crisis) he’d not once acknowledged the fact that he was dying with any of his friends or staff. 

He looked confused, as if she could actually give him some sort of answer. 

For all the ways she knew how to kill someone, Natasha had never actually been asked something like that before. Her targets _never_ knew what was coming. “I guessed I’d do whatever I want.” She replied. She looked through his watches to get away from that stare. Tony wasn’t actually looking at her, he’d retreated somewhere inside of his head. Normally he was a little less obvious about it. Only they both knew the answers he was looking for weren’t in there floating with the formulae and loose program strings. 

Palladium poisoning was extremely painful and Natsha shouldn’t feel bad for him because Tony was an irritating bastard with the emotional maturity of a toddler. She pulled out the brown watch that went with the seven thousand dollar suit Tony was wearing and held it out for him. 

The look he’d given her was gone completely as if it had never been there; like Tony had managed to write the code to delete his own feelings. Natasha should have seen it as a warning, but she’d been rattled and caught off guard. Later when Fury asked her why she let it come to this, Natasha would answer tartly that her position was to observe; she wasn’t Tony’s baby-sitter. 

“Let’s rock and roll.” 

If anything the party is worse than Monaco. If only slightly more cheaper because there was cutting edge tech being destroyed left and right. The walls had been wired into the houses infrastructure and rebuilding needs to be supervised carefully so as not to interrupt any of JARVIS’ systems. The floor is heated and that’s a pain to have fixed. 

When the fighting started Natasha herded Pepper out of the house with all the guests. There was no saving this one, but they could start damage control early. 

“Thank you for attending Tony’s birthday.” Pepper said over the crowd her hands on her hips and her CEO face just barely covering the way her lips trembled. “There are cars to escort you home if you find you cannot make it yourself. Please move in an orderly fashion to the valet parking lot.” There was a massive crash behind her, the windowed panels behind her showing War Machine and the Iron Man rolling through the hallway and taking out one of the load bearing walls. “Now please.” She shouted and Natasha jabbed the man next to her hard in the side with her elbow startling him into movement. 

Like one large drunk herd they all left, each craning for another look through the windows. The sounds of thousand dollar micro-etched window panes shattering came from the other side of the house. 

“Ms. Potts?” Natasha found her staring at the house. Under no circumstances could she let a civilian back in there. 

“By this point I think you can call me Pepper.” She tried to smile but it looked painful. “The press...” She trailed off. 

“That’s not your job anymore. I can handle it.” After all the PR statements had pretty much been worn into the systems by Pepper over the years she had been working with Tony. “Miss. C.E.O.” Natasha said trying for friendly and maybe a little humorous by drawing each letter out between her teeth. 

Pepper snorted in an un-ladylike manner out her nose. They were standing at the top of the driveway leading down to the valet parking where millions of dollars worth of luxury cars were filing out and down the winding drive way towards the greater Los Angeles region. With the warm wind in her hair it could have been a lovely evening. 

“... Has.” Pepper began after they had been standing there for a while together. “I mean.” 

“Yes?” Natasha looked up at her. Pepper looked beautiful tonight; it was Tony’s birthday after all. Natasha hadn’t quite pieced together their relationship yet Pepper didn’t seem like the secret girlfriend type. At that moment Happy wasn’t hovering, he was too good a driver to be hovering, but it was obvious that he was ready whenever Pepper decided she would like to go. 

“Shall we walk? There is a terrace that way which gives breathtaking views of the ocean. I bet it looks amazing at night.” Pepper said after a long silent moment. 

“It’s not on any plans for the house.” Natasha had studied the plans in case of emergencies. 

“Tony added it a few years ago. I did wonder why, I don’t think he’s ever been down here. I like to have lunch here when he’s being intolerable.” She laughed, and Natasha figured the answer was right there. The view was indeed breathtaking, the night was clear and the moon rose behind the house casting it in a glow of lights. The waves were invisible in the dark but the sound of them gently crashing into the cliff the house was built on was just enough to imagine them in the darkness over the edge of the railing. They were hidden from everyone else like this. Pepper must have turned her phone off, because Natasha’s had been ringing for the last ten minutes straight but she’d been ignoring it. 

“I wanted to ask, has he said anything to you?” Pepper sat down heavily and kicked off one of her Fendi heels as if they were nothing more special than an Aldo bargain purchase. “He’s been acting out, I mean this is more than usual. After—after the incident, he’s been doing better. Lately...”

The psych evaluation on Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts had stated that she had no surviving family and years of service for Tony had warped them both into a co-dependency that served to stabilize them both before the introduction of Iron Man into their lives. The note had been brief, and co-dependant didn’t really begin to cut it when describing them. Less like lovers and more like siblings but twisted enough that they might try to make something of it any ways. 

“If there was anything wrong I’d think Mr. Stark would come to you.” Natasha said diplomatically. Tony would probably rather cut off his own scrotum. 

“He never tells me anything.” Pepper huffed. 

“Such a _man_.” Natasha muttered. This startled a laugh out of Pepper. 

“I am worried about him.” Pepper admit, turning to look up at her where Natasha was still leaning against the railing looking out over the sea of shadows. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this.” She laughed, resting her face in her hands and she was probably smudging her make-up, Natasha wasn’t sure what to do. Girl-talk had never been part of her training. Being able to comfort someone had never been a life skill she’d needed to cultivate. Problems were usually solved more efficiently with a choke hold than a hug and ‘comfort’ was given with a punch in the face and bitten off ‘deal with it’. “I don’t know why, but I’m worried about him.” 

“Probably because he just destroyed the house. I’ll put a call into the builders too.” Natasha said dryly, Pepper choked on a laugh. “Also the insurance.” 

“Paper work for the house should still be on my desk if you would like to come in tomorrow?” The wind blew, a hot breath across the back of Natasha’s neck. She should get to work, she had a sneaking suspicion over what had just happened and it was going to take her most of the night to hack into Tony’s systems _and_ cobble together and adequate press release. She didn’t want to leave Pepper sitting here alone so she kicked off her own Pradas (there were no missions like glamour missions; all very James Bond) and sat on the bench next to Pepper. 

“I’d like that. It’ll make things easier.” 

If Fury’s plan failed, or Stark wasn’t as smart as everyone thought he was and he did die it would break her. Natasha was almost certain of this. Tony would be selfish enough not to go down alone. 

“I should go, this is going to be a mess.” 

“That’s my job now Ms. Potts.” Natasha reminded her. 

“Oh, right.” 

“Will that be all?” Natasha looked at her and Pepper laughed for no reason Natasha could figure out, tucking her hair back behind her ear. 

“That will be all Ms. Rushman.” She said, slipping back into her shoes and standing. She towered above Natasha for a moment, backlit by the stars. In another life she could have been a movie star; tall and striking. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

As soon as she was gone Natasha pulled out her mobile. “I need a trace on Iron Man.” She snapped into the direct line to the helicarrier. She felt mildly unsettled; probably a sympathetic response to the house being totalled. Only Clint had always told her she had no concept of sympathy as she mopped the floor with him when they sparred. So that couldn’t be it. 

She walked up the driveway in her stockings until she got to the line of glass that glittered like the stars in the external lights. At least she would be able to feel the humid LA breeze now even when she was inside. Slipping into her heels she picked her way through the debris silently surveying the damage. It was impossible to tell at this point what would need to be replaced in the house. With any luck most of it would be cosmetic damage. 

“Get me a line to Fury.” She said into the phone once she’d settled down around the breakfast nook with a Stark-pad hooked up to the network. The armour specs were under heavy protection and there was no way to access them from the outside. Inside she had just enough manoeuvrability to get a better look at the security systems. The house was running an a scan on all of the internal circuitry and she could just about slip in. 

“Agent Romanoff, it is very early in the morning.” Fury said, and she could hear his frown. 

“You told me to alert you to major updates on Stark’s condition.” She replied. 

“And?” There was a rustle of bedding. It was weird to imagine Fury having a bed let alone sleeping. It was easier to imagine him prowling around the metallic corridors of the helicarrier at all times, or the bland carpets of the home office. He gave the impression that he was above sleep, toeing the line between cyborg and human. 

“Colonel James Rhodes had been given full access to the War Machine suit and left with it after an altercation at his birthday party. They’d destroyed the Malibu house, and I will need further resources to stop this from becoming a media circus. I think it is time we acted.” 

“You have them. Where is Tony now?”

“They are trying to track him, but the satellites can’t track him properly when he’s supersonic.”

“Suit up.” 

“Yes sir.” 

Natasha has been an assassin as long as she can remember. Training from when she was little to master her body. It was a tool, a precision tool the same way any of Tony’s diamond cutters were precision tools. Each did one thing and they did it with perfection. When Natasha went for the jugular there was no coming back. Her targets never knew what hit them, and she almost never knew why they had to die. 

When she went for Tony’s neck even with the enhanced scanning and tracking systems of the suit he wasn’t able to see her coming, and she depressed the plunger and danced out of the way of the arm that instinctively lashed out at her. 

She’s killed and killed and killed and Tony was probably the first person who had ever looked at her like she’d betrayed them. Tony didn’t seem to realize how easily he could have been dead. 

What with tracking Tony down in between hacking his system and waking up the PR department to drag them in on overtime Natasha didn’t get into headquarters until noon. By then she had changed back into her cover (pencil skirt, blouse and borderline sensible shoes) she hadn’t slept a wink in the intervening time. 

Pepper didn’t look like she slept much either, her clear blue eyes watery with fatigue and her hair looked a little lank. 

“Morning.” Pepper greeted her and it was just on the shade of noon to still be considered morning. Natasha looked up from Pepper’s old desk where she was pawing through out-dated paper work. 

“Good morning Ms. Potts.” Natasha tipped her head in greeting. 

“The papers for the Malibu house are indexed under Tony’s personal files and under housing.” 

As expected, the filing system was intuitive once she stepped back and looked at it from Pepper’s point of view; and Natasha pulled the signed insurance policy on the house along with schematic files for some of the upper floors. Natasha pulled all the paper’s back to Pepper’s empty office. The office was prime real-estate as far as office space was concerned. Big windows opened it to the LA sky-line; a row of potted plants resting there having not been included in the move next door to Tony’s office. Still no one had claimed it as their own. Weather that was because no one thought Pepper would last as CEO or if no one stood up to her example as what a PA should be was still to be decided. 

Natasha noticed the folder sitting on her desk, Peppers spidery handwriting scrawling across the top. It looked important if the ‘confidential’ stamped across the top was any indication. Natasha snatched it up and walked across the hall where Pepper’s office was quite empty. Flipping across the top they looked like merger documents for the meeting that was scheduled for... right now. 

She was a spy, it wasn’t difficult to spy into the room and find Pepper sitting and looking attentive around a bunch of men. The one giving the presentation sneered something at her over the graph and Papper didn’t even blink. Going back to her desk Natasha grabbed the folder and a bottle of water. The door opened silently but her heels made a soft sound against the short carpeting as she moved into the room aiming for Pepper’s side. 

“It’s clear that the values projected were before Stark Industries stock have taken a _dip_.” Pepper didn’t say anything, her face not even flinching. Natasha briefly fantasized about stabbing him in the femoral artery with his expensive, engraved pen and watching him bleed out. “At this conjecture it would be unwise to commit to the price offered.” _By Tony_ , went unsaid. Of course what they needed to realize was that Pepper probably did most of it anyways. 

“Ms. Potts.” Natasha cut in smoothly. All eyes turned to her and she assessed them coolly, refusing to be intimidated, and turned towards Pepper holding out the water bottle. “Here is the water you requested and the _revised_ portfolio on General Lights and Singularity.” It was a gamble, Singularity was their largest rival, and while SI had no actual dealings with them Natasha wasn’t about the let them off easy. It had taken her only a week to realize that office politics was no different than the kind of reindeer games that she was used to playing only on a smaller scale. 

Pepper met his eyes without giving anything away and Natasha let the smallest satisfied smile play around her lips. Pepper’s shoulders straightened out a little and she looked less wooden. 

“Thank you Ms. Rushman, would you care to grab a seat?” Pepper’s eyes were bright clear and she gave Natasha a smile. 

“This is a confidential meeting!” Mr. Morris said waspishly. Natasha wouldn’t have believed men with all the power of fortunes and companies at their fingertips could behave like children until she’d become a spy and realized most people never actually grew up they just pretended like they did. It was all about instant gratification with these types. 

“As CEO of Stark Enterprises I believe I am allowed to appoint my own personal assistant. I believe you know a little something about how hard it is to find good help isn’t that correct? Ms. Rushman is very discreet.” Pepper’s smile wasn’t vicious simply bland and approachable even if her words were pointed. Still Natasha watched as his face twisted with rage while the other men shot glances at him. 

“If we could continue?” The last man said, his face was impassive, flicking between the file, and Pepper’s face and his colleagues. 

“Of course.” Pepper said graciously. 

Natasha watched the rest of the meeting silently impressed by how tactical Pepper was, her poker face was impressive. Natasha said very little just observing the room and offering a few pointed comments when she could see they had the others on the run. While it wasn’t sneaking behind enemy lines or the mind games of a good interrogation there was a certain hint of high-stakes poker about it. 

Afterwards, the meeting room was empty littered with the dregs of coffee and the crumbs of the croissant that Natasha had shredded apart with sharp precise motions while watching them argue in pleasant terms about the selling price of the company. While the men tried to play the current drop in stock prices againt them Pepper was unrelenting. The price did dip, but not as much as it could have. 

“If you had waited like they asked you could have got a better price.” Natasha had no doubts that under Pepper’s control the company would flourish. She had a good sense for business; and knew Stark Industries better than anyone. As she needed to do was dig it out from under Stark’s reputation which was something that she had been doing for years anyways. 

“It was an acceptable loss to show the shareholders that we’re still viable that things will carry on as normal. Better this than taking losses in a bigger deal next week or next month. These guys are small fries; they came to us wanting to be big time. Morris is an idiot and Mr. Skies has contacted me separately about ‘restructuring their staff to conform to Stark Industries’ hiring policies’” 

“Subtle.” Natasha clicked her tongue and Pepper rolled her eyes. 

“As an ox.” Pepper grumbled. Natasha went to move back towards the desk she abandoned. “Natalie?” 

“Yes Pepper?” 

“You did amazing in there.” Her smile was warm, pleased and Natasha nodded in return. She had enjoyed it a little more than she should have. Once you dabble in international politics, the boardroom shouldn’t be as fun. 

“Thank you.” 

“Listen, it’s my daily espresso and throw darts at photos of Tony’s face time. Would you care to join me?” 

Natasha had a lot of work to do. Agent Coulson was in charge of watching Stark at the moment but she really should be doing something about the media. Instead Natasha let herself smile a little. “I’ll have you know I’m excellent at darts.” Darts, throwing knives, there was little difference. 

They retreated into what was once Tony’s office. All of his things were pushed into a corner and Natasha had to smile a little at that. Pepper had replaced his trinkets with some tastefully stylish modern art. She loved it if the art that hung around the mansion and the upper levels of headquarters was anything to go by. It was easy to imagine what her apartment would look like, modern in the way that the Malibu house was modern art flowing into function easily. 

There wasn’t actually a dart board with photos of Tony on it. Natasha was only a little disappointed about that it would have been an opportunity to show off a little. What there was, is an intern flagged down and sent to the Starbucks across the street for some more coffee. “I never understood the appeal of coffee before college.” Pepper smiled. 

“I don’t think anyone does.” Natasha had never been to college, but her file had her graduating at Harvard law so she smiled pointedly. 

“I think there are weeks where Tony lives on it.” Pepper shook her head. 

“It does seem to be his drug of choice.” Natasha demurred. Pepper smiled. 

“Can you imagine him on anything stronger?” 

At least she was gathering more intel on Stark. “I imagine it would be... informative.” 

“It’d be a disaster.” Pepper said firmly but with a smile. Natasha hadn’t considered getting closer to Pepper as a source of information. She’d gone straight for the jugular, gone after Tony himself. Natasha considered it; tactically viable but she wasn’t very good at this girl talk thing. Still she could improvise.

They settle on talking about some of the dresses worn to the party yesterday. Natasha had never aired her thoughts on the thin line between classy and slutty before. Pepper finds it hysterical and they dissect the dress worn by a tennis star Tony tumbled some time back whom had shown up in little more than a bikini and a wrap of sheer material. 

Half an hour passed quickly Natasha’s grande skinny latte gone down to the milk foam that lined the inside of the cup. Girl talk was strangely liberating. Clint has no opinions on her under cover dresses beyond how much cleavage she could show and still hide a weapon. The idea of trying to talk about these things with Maria Hill was just absurd. While Pepper doesn’t have anything to say on concealed weapons she did have a lot to say on hemlines. 

“Natalie?” Pepper asked as they both rose to leave. Her breath was stale with milk and coffee and Pepper probably couldn’t have been better. There were mints tucked into her purse. There was also a small gun sewn into a secret pocket. “I meant what I said before; you were really good in there. I could use your help here.” 

Coulson had Stark. This could work for a bit. 

“As CEO of Stark Industries I do think you get to appoint your own PA.” She said instead. 

Pepper laughed. “That I do.” 

That afternoon she checked in with Coulson first. “How is he?” It was easy to remember that despite his bravado Tony Stark was dying. He had hid it too long and they could only hope this intervention would work (some people went on reality television, Tony’s intervention took an entire government branch; _typical_.) 

“Sulking.” Coulson responded silkily. Natasha could easily enough picture that. After last night she wasn’t going to go easy on him. That was a media circus of hitherto unknown proportions. If her cover wasn’t blown she would stick around and make Tony pay for this for _weeks_. Assuming he lived that long. “I’ve confined him to the house.” Act out like a child, be treated like a child. 

“Good. I will continue to maintain my cover.” She replied flatly. 

Her cover apparently stretched to working until long after the sun had fallen making phone calls across time zones and trying to muscle the sheer amount of data provided by the company to something that was useful. Her cover stretched to sitting on the other side of Pepper’s desk eating Thai food they had ordered in and talking about all the films neither of them had had time to see. 

It was nice, and it was comfortable in a way that covers rarely were. 

If she had one weakness it was that Natasha was always in control. That was her game, she was the Black Widow and she spun the webs. Master at her own game. The world was made of momentum and control the same as fighting was; you could easily take down a man much bigger than you with the proper application of force and momentum. Natasha had thought she understood the variables, she’d spun her web and Tony Stark had fallen right into it as planned. Looking back, that was her flaw; she had grown overly confident that everything was going according to plan.

A few days later was when things went veering off out of control.

Pepper kissed like her namesake and if there was one thing Tony Stark did right it was nick-names. Each kiss was like taking a bite out of those spicy little peppers they grew in the south, the ones that burned her mouth and made her sweat. 

“I’m sorry.” Pepper said, laughing breathlessly against Natasha’s mouth. She was a bit stunned, couldn’t help the way that she had pressed back into the kiss. It had been unexpected, not unwanted but unexpected. 

“I’m not.” Natasha breathed with a small curving smile. Pepper’s hair was soft where she touched the edges of her fringe hesitant to mess it up before they had ever left the office. Pepper wore a dark pink lip stain, leaving only the clear gloss she wore on top across Natasha’s lips. It was sticky between them. 

“Of course you’re not. It’s your law suit.” Natasha watched Pepper pull away and pull herself together. It sent a bloom of lust alight in her stomach. The only people she had ever wanted were the ones that were able to turn her down. “I should know better, I am in a position of authority.” 

Natasha tugged on that little bit of hair lightly, looking up at Pepper through her bangs, let the paradigm shift between them. She could adapt and she wants this now that it’s on offer, hadn’t even stopped to think about how much she could want this. “Technically.” Natasha breathed, “I’m still Mr. Stark’s personal assistant.” 

Pepper’s look is long and assessing, like Natasha was a particularly curvy and yet perfectly worded contract. “Ms. Rushman, you’re amazing.” She didn’t even try to stop the smile the frank appreciation in Pepper’s voice brought to her face. 

“Your place or mine?” Natasha grinned. Neither of them is the type of woman who likes to be seen as anything less than perfect in public and there was a certain weakness assumed with messy hair and smeared make up. Pepper dismissed Happy, stuttering over her excuse the way she _didn’t_ when she was bluffing to the potential business partners and thousands of dollars were on the table. 

It was oddly cute, Natasha ran her fingers lightly through Pepper’s hair as she ended the call and Pepper looked up at her, Natasha was taller only when Pepper was sitting. She watched the way Pepper’s eyes trailed across the low cut of her top. There was an art to being able to draw attention to your assets without being obvious about it. 

“Mine.” Pepper managed to say firmly. Natasha smiled at her not, even bothering to hide the vicious expression she normally hid when things were going exactly her way. 

Pepper’s apartment was huge, and probably mathematically in the epicentre of SI headquarters, Tony’s Malibu home and the hanger where the private jet was stored because she was exact that way. Prime location for a ruthlessly efficient woman. Natasha could admit to being impressed despite herself. The whole thing was modern with clean sharp lines and the harsh almost un-lived in feel. 

The firm cushions hit her back as Pepper pushed her lightly back onto the white settee. Pepper kicked off her shoes which each landed on the floor with a sizable _thud_ , Natasha was strapped into hers and so she was just careful not to scratch Pepper’s toes with the sharp edge as she wrapped her feet around Pepper’s. The thin skirt that she wore stopped her from straddling Natasha’s thighs fully, instead she was being leaned on, taking Pepper’s weight with her shoulders. She didn’t like being pinned, even less so when Pepper’s pretty glossy lips stopped just short of another one of those kisses. 

Natasha pouted at her and Pepper smiled. “Don’t pout.” Pepper admonished her in those clipped tones and Natasha twisted her shoulders causing Pepper to slip so that Natasha could reach her better and pull her into a kiss. Pepper laughed against her lips. Natasha grabbed the smooth material of her skirt and hiked it up until Pepper could straddle her thighs properly. 

Then they were really kissing. Despite all-over images of glamour Pepper had short practical nails, they scrapped through Natasha’s hair and along the back of her skull and Natasha shivered. Electricity raced under her skin causing her to flush warm with it. The next kiss was like an attack, Natasha’s tongue pushing into Pepper’s mouth.

It was impossible to tell how long they spent like that just kissing. Pepper’s blouse was made of some silky material that slid through Natasha’s fingers as she traced the lines of Pepper’s bra with curious fingertips. Pepper absolutely ruined her hair, running her fingers through it until all the product she’d used to keep the curls in place was a mess and her lips felt bruised. She mouthed her way across Pepper’s jaw, the silky smooth skin under her ear was faintly chemical with perfume and hair spray and it was wonderfully tart against her tongue. 

“Your pretty mouth.” Pepper whispered like it was dragged out of her; Natasha hummed low in her chest. 

Pepper’s lips were flushed and raw looking, her eyes too blue against the freckled flush of her face. She was amazingly beautiful like this, her lipstick smeared at the edges where Natasha had licked into her mouth. Natasha didn’t have the words in any of the five languages she was fluent in to explain it. Even if she did they all fled in front of the urgency of having Pepper rocking slowly in her lap, luxuriating in the smooth roll of their bodies. 

“So very pretty.” Pepper explained between softer kisses, long fingers toying with the buttons to Natasha’s blouse. Her eyes were hot and dark and Natasha surged up to deepen the kiss, pressing her tongue into Pepper’s mouth until the other woman gave up groaning against her and pressing down against Natasha’s chest. 

“Where do you want it?” Natasha hissed against her lips. Pepper made a small desperate whimper; Natasha bit Pepper’s bottom lip softly sucking it into her mouth followed by a trail down the length of her neck. Natasha’s tummy was tight, blood pounding through her head like he was jogging or sparring. “Here?” 

“Natalie.” Pepper groaned as Natasha pressed open mouthed kisses down her cleavage as far as the shirt would let her. 

“Call me Nat.” She whispered. It wasn’t that she couldn’t maintain her cover, just she liked the clipped off way that Pepper said it when she popped the button so she could scrape her teeth across the impossibly silky skin of Pepper’s breast. 

Pepper helped by tugging the shirt out of her skirt as Natasha undid all the buttons leaving it hanging from Pepper’s shoulders and framing the pert swell of her breasts in her deep purple bra. Her chest was pale, the ginger curse, and painted with pale freckles, enough to give it texture. Natasha urged her up, nosing her way down her from the sharp crest of her collarbone down to the hemline of her bra, sucking the skin there between her teeth. 

“Yes.” Pepper hissed, petting her hands through Natasha’s hair and down across her shoulders. 

Natasha rarely had to undo a bra from this angle, it was different but she was an accomplished pick-pocket, dexterity was her thing. It only took a little bit of fumbling until the tiny hooks gave way under her fingers and loosened enough for her to get her mouth on one rosy nipple. Pepper made a bitten off yelp, trying to grind down on Natasha’s lap and up into her mouth at the same time. 

“Bite me.” Pepper gasped and Natasha smiled viciously. She used the edge of her teeth to worry it, flicking her tongue to sooth the sting. Pepper whined, her skirt stopping her from being able to widen her legs. It was too tight for Natasha to get her hands where she wanted them, having to settle for running her palm up the inside of one thigh as far as it would go. 

“Bed?” She asked, pressing her cheek against the exposed breast and looking up at Pepper, being able to see nothing but the orange of her hair and the curve of a shoulder where Pepper was hiding her face in Natasha’s hair. 

“Yes.” 

The climb to their feet could have been more graceful. Pepper shed her shirt entirely and Natasha was distracted from the tiny buckles on her shoes by the long smooth curve of her back. So much pale skin and so much potential. In the end she kicked the shoes off ignoring the fact that she was stretching them out, the quicker she got rid of those the fast she could stand up and follow. 

Pepper met her in the hall, kissing her hard and fingers unerringly finding the small zipper on the side of her skirt. Without their shoes she was a little shorter, it didn’t matter because she could touch, letting both hands smooth their way up from the small of her back to the sharp points of her shoulder blades. Pepper was made of almost awkward gangly angles, too thin and too tall like she had been stretched out, and Natasha wanted to bite each one of those angles. They tangled their way to the bedroom and Natasha felt the give as her tights ran under Pepper’s nails. 

“Oops.” She giggled breathlessly. 

“Casualty of war.” Natasha said back, kissing the line of her jaw. 

They left a trail of clothes through the trendy yet startlingly Spartan sitting room. Natasha was down to her panties when they hit the bed, rolling around on it for a few minutes simply luxuriating in the feel of skin rubbing against skin and Pepper’s thigh between hers rubbing against where her underwear was damp. Pepper was completely naked, all long legs and the sharp jut of her rib cage. 

“Oh wow you’re fit.” Pepper breathed against her neck, fingers running across the lines of Natasha’s waist, unknowingly tracing the lines of her gun holster when she was properly dressed. 

“Yoga and kickboxing.” Natasha didn’t lie. She just omit a few other key activities. Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Wing Chun Karate and wrestling. “You never answered when I asked where you wanted my mouth.” She deflected, watching Pepper flush from close up. Natasha would bet her eyelashes were practically translucent without the mascara that made them full, brushing against her cheeks when they fluttered shut. 

“Yes.” Was the answering groan. 

“Here?” Natasha smiled as she kissed the side of Pepper’s neck. Pepper didn’t even notice the way that Natasha shifted her weight, subtly shifting their movements until she was on top and Pepper was pinned under her. 

Pepper sighed letting her head tip back in a trusting gesture. Natasha shimmied down a little pressing one of her knees between Pepper’s legs. Her pubic hair was coarse against her thigh and wet when Pepper rubbed down against it all slick and heat. She made a muffled sort of whine and Natasha bit back a sound of her own. 

They writhed together Pepper panting and hissing soft curses as Natasha bit at her nipples. Pepper’s hands were everywhere, tangling in her hair and smoothing across her forehead, slipping down her back and tracing the muscles in her shoulders. 

She was getting really wet, Natasha could feel her heat sliding against her thigh and she smiled, using one hand to pin her hip effectively stopping her wiggling and the other to spread her legs out. “I think it was here?” 

“Natalie.” She breathed, watching her with wide eyes. Natasha smiled balancing her weight with her toes gripping the sheets so she could lean down and lick a hot strip up her ribs. Her nipples were flushed and dark, breaths shaking with each hitching breath she took. This was probably one of the single most powerful women in the world right now. She had certainly had more power over Tony than any other woman even before she was CEO. 

Natasha very badly wanted to taste her, she could smell her from here, musk and salt and her mouth was watering a little. She so rarely let herself have what she wanted. In this moment she wanted nothing else more. 

“Eat me.” Pepper hissed and Natasha licked her stomach next. The words rattled in her head unexpectedly hot. She nodded slowly. 

“Yes Ms. Potts.” She said tartly and Pepper’s laugh trailed off into a high moan when Natasha wiggled her way down her body so that she was curled between her legs and sucked a bruise into her inner thigh. The skin there was so pale as to be translucent and the bright red bruise rose almost as soon as she stopped sucking. It looked nice, the curve matching Natasha’s mouth exactly. 

She didn’t wait any longer, instead spreading the folds of her cunt with her fingers and licking at her delicately. She could tell by the way that Pepper shook and swore that it wasn’t enough. Natasha let out a tony moan of pleasure herself. The simple act resounding with something low in her stomach. She was desperately turned on. 

“Don’t tease me.” Pepper demanded and Natasha wasn’t going to deny that. She sucked two fingers into her mouth quickly, getting them wet. She pushed them up and into Pepper, licking around her fingers where she was stretched tight. 

Pepper squeaked, thighs trying to close on her and Natasha used her free hand to push one out of the way, effectively spreading her further for her tongue. She was strung so tight already, Natasha could feel it in the desperate way she rocked against the fingers inside her, hot and clenching like she couldn’t get enough. 

With a small snarl Natasha sealed her mouth over her clit, mindful of teeth and gave it a sharp suck. That got a shout, Pepper arching and panting against the sheets. Natasha did it again. She could feel from the inside as she fucked Pepper with her fingers how she was going tense, rushing towards orgasm. Natasha could only wish she could see her face, but that would require giving up her prize and now that she had it there was no way she was going to do that. 

Three fingers, tucked together and pushing into Pepper hard did it, she wailed the muscles in her thighs going taught as Natasha fucked her through it, pressing as deep as she could go and lapping at her clit, feeling the faint throb with her lips. 

Pepper was shivering and making whining sounds as Natasha didn’t let up. Moving slower, feeling the way she couldn’t stop shaking. 

“Enough.” She gasped and Natasha considered ignoring her for a moment before letting go. 

Her mouth was a mess, she could how wet her face was and she couldn’t find it in her to be ashamed. She had been covered in much worse. Pepper stared at her dazed. “Fuck.” She swore with low conviction. Natasha licked her fingers with arched eyebrows. 

Pepper huffed, and pulled her down kissing her hard. Using one hand in her hair Pepper used it to hold Natasha’s head steady while she licked her chin clean. The other rubbed her palm hard against Natasha’s cunt. She was throbbing already, wildly turned on from eating Pepper out. 

“Yes.” She groaned, throwing her head back. 

Pepper twisted them so that she wasn’t under Natasha anymore and they were both on their sides so she could push Natasha’s soaked panties down around her knees. Her mouth was hot and slick, wet against her breast. One hand was splayed across her ass, nails sharp points of sensation digging into the meat of the muscle. The angle was awkward but Natasha didn’t need much. Her nipples were already sensitive and between Pepper’s mouth there and her fingers toying with her clit it was only a matter of moments before she was whining as she came, clenching down on nothing as every muscle in her body locked up for a moment that seemed to stretch on forever before it expanded so fast it left her gasping as she writhed and moaned Pepper doing her best to draw it out with her teeth. 

They both lay there breathing fast and curled around each other, it was hot and sweaty and Natasha face was probably a mess. There was hair _everywhere_ sticking to her skin and Natasha didn’t feel the need to move. On the grander scale of things having a broken leg was a lot less comfortable. 

“Well that was kind of unexpected.” Pepper purred. This wasn’t part of the mission and Natasha didn’t like to be side-tracked on missions. Only this was nice, even the snuggling was nice. With Pepper’s bony elbow digging into her side until she squirmed into a more comfortable position moulding around Pepper’s sharper edges. An acceptable deviance from mission parameters. 

“Should I have penned it into your schedule?” Natasha asked and Pepper laughed, kissing her hair lightly. 

Things weren’t awkward, they showered Pepper first while Natasha called Coulson for an update on Tony’s progress. Then she showered, washing the faint taste of Pepper from her mouth a stolen toothbrush. The next morning Pepper was pleasant made coffee and joked about having shown enough women out in the mornings to not want Natasha to run away so early. She didn’t want to become too much like Tony, _heaven forbid_. 

It was the first time either of them had mentioned Tony since the whole thing had started. Pepper smiled a little sadly, but that was it. So Natasha stayed and drank her coffee and they sorted through the clothes left in little piles through the hallway. The only personal touch in the whole apartment outside of the bedroom was a framed photo of Pepper and Tony both standing in front of a sports car, it looked like it might have been a photoshoot for all of three minutes, Tony was giving her bunny ears and Pepper was rolling her eyes in a less than attractive fashion. 

Tony should have solved the problem from his father’s notes by now. He still hadn’t and Natasha was a little worried. Director Fury seemed to believe that Stark could do it and she believed in what Fury wanted but it couldn’t ease the tight clench of unease in her stomach. 

She leaned across the table to kiss Pepper with a closed mouth so as not to ruin her lipstick. She deserved so much better. 

Natasha retreated behind her desk once she reached Stark HQ in a fresh pair of clothes and newly styled hair. She had seen, she had _done_ worse things to people who deserved better. On the whole karmic balance this was a drip in the ocean. Sometime after lunch her schedule dinged to remind her that she and Pepper had an important meeting down in Silicon Valley.

She found Tony Stark on the other side of the door and a furious Pepper. Natasha felt something inside of her crack. Something that only happened when Clint was down and there were men with guns rushing towards them. 

“Ms. Potts.” She said with a tight smile. Tony Stark was supposed to be confined to his home. Happy was right on time bringing Pepper’s coat with him. 

Pepper and Tony exchanged some more scathing remarks. Everyone left and Natasha stood there trying to decide what to say. The first thing she had ever learned was to not let anything get to her. If she did she would have died already twice over. It was impossible to maintain her life-style and still feel things for other people. Still, around someone like Tony _fucking_ Stark it was impossible not to feel irritation and outrage. 

Tony was Tony. In the end she just responded to his childish taunts and stormed out of the room. Coulson would deal with him later. 

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Pepper said, they were in the back of the car and Happy was studiously pretending he couldn’t hear them. “He means well.” Pepper sighed. “He always means well.” 

Natasha said nothing, to her it sounded like Pepper was trying to convince herself. She was actually startled when Pepper laced their fingers together keeping them low and out of sight. Natasha wasn’t sure exactly what to do so she did nothing simply sat there with the warmth of Pepper’s hand closed around her own. Pepper seemed to be drawing some sort of comfort from it and Natasha at least understood physical contact had more than enough different inflections. 

She couldn’t say anything about the sex (amazing) but between the two of them they could reduce corporate grandstanders to shells of themselves. Natasha could admit she may have been a little too harsh with him, if the blank almost pained look on the rest of the board’s face was anything to go by. Pepper didn’t seem to mind; sweeping in to play off of Natasha’s clipped tones with softness. It was the oldest trick in the book but they fell like dominoes anyways. 

She was alone in the foyer while Pepper engaged in some political small talk. She was on a first name basis with all the assorted PAs and secretaries. That alone should have put the fear of god into their hearts. Tony didn’t even know his own SIN number without Pepper. 

“There is a situation in Arizona.” Coulson said and his tone was bland but Natasha could hear through the layers of it. Something big was up. “I will be leaving to handle it personally.” 

“Was that all?” This wasn’t the place for a private call. 

“I’m taking Hawkeye with me.” Natasha snorted softly. 

“Is there any progress with the project?” She may need to divert her attention back to Stark. It would take some work but it could be pulled off without blowing her cover. 

“I think he’s found a lead of some sort, he hasn’t slept or come up from the lab in about a day.” That could mean either he was almost dead or that he had made a breakthrough. 

“Ms. Rushman?” Pepper said lowly, conscious of her phone-call and nodded her hair at the large double doors and the waiting car outside. 

Natasha mouthed ‘one minute’ as she turned on her heels to follow Pepper’s sashaying figure towards the door. Happy snapped his eyes from her hips up to her fast so hard he must have given himself whiplash but he was coolly efficient, face impassive as he opened the door for her. Natasha suppressed a small smile. 

“You’re mission control again Agent.” Coulson said, and was it her or did he actually sound relieved. Stark had the amazing ability to drive even the most stable and well adjusted of people to the ends of their ropes. Take Pepper, of course Natasha was beginning to think that Pepper wasn’t nearly as stable as she seemed, she just liked to stand next to Tony. 

“Okay, I got it.” She sort of smiled at Pepper as they slid back into the car. “I’m sorry but I am busy tonight with the Stark Expo, perhaps another time?” She kept her voice light but firm. Pretence of a business call. 

“Agent Coulson out.” He replied. 

“Goodbye.” 

“Like vultures.” Pepper sighed, sinking back into the seats. 

“You okay boss?” Happy asked, eyes on the road. Driving in LA required a certain lack of regard for normal road safety laws. Happy was old hat at this, swerving out of the way of a Lorry going way to fast and changing lanes a bit too close to a van trying to edge into their lane. 

“Great.” Pepper replied voice all but dripping in sarcasm. 

“You’ve done this a lot longer than me,” Natasha began, “but from what I can tell from the analysts’ reports things are not nearly as bad as they could have been.” Given that Tony hadn’t given anyone much time to plan, to put together a media release, to soften the impact any. 

“Thanks.” Pepper let her head loll back against the seat rest dangerously close to ruining the perfect upsweep of her hair. 

“You’re welcome.” 

Natasha decided to pay no mind to whatever was between her and Pepper. That way she could compartmentalize. It was something she’d learned to do while trying to separate the image of her father from the man who’d trained her. It had always been that or lose herself completely. 

She could have always gone to check in with Tony himself but she’d _met_ Justin Hammer. Natasha didn’t hate people; but she was making an exception for Justin Hammer; it was almost comical what a dick he was. Like he was some parody of a character off television. There was no way she was letting Pepper do this on her own. She could check in on Tony tomorrow morning. 

Instead she’d gone home and pulled out one of the dresses that came in her closet. She didn’t know which agent had been in charge of making her wardrobe, they usually came with the assignment. It amused her to imagine that it was Coulson or Agent Hill. 

Natasha showered, and carefully tamed her hair running though the curls until they stayed tight before spraying the whole thing in place. If it took her a little long than usual it was because the first time she applied her eye shadow it was a bit lop-sided. 

Pepper picked her up in the car looking glamorous and subtle; like you would imagine the CEO of a multibillion dollar company should look. (Which incidentally is nothing like one Tony Stark.)

It felt oddly like a date. Not that Natasha had ever been on a real date in the way most people defined dates. She’d been on dates as a way of unobtrusively gathering information before. ‘You look amazing’ Pepper said, keeping her hands to herself. Natasha gave her a wicked little smile, half a promise. On work dates there was never a question of putting out at the end of the night. 

Pepper walked with her to their seats, incredibly steady on her massive heels. The crowd forced her to tuck into Pepper’s side. It wasn’t so bad and it stopped her from being stepped on. 

“This way.” Natasha had arranged the seats personally. “I’ve seen some of Hammer’s weapons, Tony liked to show clips to the R&D boys as motivation. He used to call it positive reinforcement.” Pepper spoke close to her ear, not close enough to raise eyebrows but just close enough Natasha could feel the whisper of her breath against her neck.

There was that thing about complacency again. Natasha hadn’t expected this night to end in any other way aside from maybe her and Pepper going back to her place to re-enact the night before. That was of course when everything went wrong. 

“What?” Pepper went tense next to her when the robots where unveiled. The similarity to the Iron Man suit was obvious. “Oh no.” 

“I’ll make some calls.” They had enough of a corporate espionage unit that they should have seen something like this coming. Hammer-Tech hadn’t even been _close_ with their designs.

Predictably that was when things went from bad to worse. Worse was named Tony Stark. The Iron Man suit made a landing with all the pomp and flash that something that heavy and brightly coloured earned. Pepper went absolutely rigid next to her. 

“Tony.” Pepper sounded a cross between furious and despondent. 

Natasha had to contain a surge of pure jealousy, it distracted her from the mission. Slowly Natasha felt herself settle into the Black Widow once more. They had said Vanko, she knew it. 

That was when the giant robots attacked. People were all scrambling to their feet at once. The crowd quickly turned into a mob. The lady next to her shoved and Natasha blocked elbow aimed for her shoulder. 

It was chaos with everyone trying to move towards the exits and Pepper trying to get up to the front. Tony took to the sky, drawing the fire from the crowd at least. Glass shattered as he broke through the sky-light and Natasha grabbed Pepper drawing her close and pulling her head down as it rained daggers around them. Someone screamed. 

“Oh god.” Pepper hissed. 

As soon as it let up Natasha began to surge forward again. She elbowed and kneed people out of her way, dragging Pepper along behind their fingers tangled together in a parody of the car earlier. 

Hammer was a worm. The situation had deteriorated rapidly. The building was filled with screaming people. His head made a most satisfying sound as it bounced off the table; it gave her a little thrill of vicious satisfaction. She never quite got over the quiet conviction that some people just deserved it. It wasn’t enough to knock him unconscious but it was enough to stun him and get his attention at the very least. Pepper gasped, startled, but he’d moved towards her and Natasha reacted. 

“Who is behind this?” She snarled in his ear, Hammer didn’t have the balls or the brains to pull this off. She couldn’t count on Tony and the Iron Man, if he hadn’t fixed it and was using the suit he’d be dead in a few minutes anyways. 

“Ivan! Ivan Vanko.” That made a lot of sense. 

“Where is he?” 

She had a destination. The Black Widow didn’t hesitate, Pepper would be able to take care of herself. 

Natasha released him and swirled away. There were still robots in the building, but Pepper was already on her phone calling in reinforcements. It was a lot quicker going with the flow of the crowd people screaming, barely managing not to trample those that had fallen. A very small part of her marvelled that only Tony could ever create such a media circus without even trying. 

Happy was waiting outside looking confused. 

“Take me to Hammer Industries.” She would strike at the heart of the problem and let him feel her bite. 

“I’m not taking you anywhere.” He replied. Natasha just kept herself from snarling at him too, she was not in the mood for this. 

“Then I will drive myself.” 

“I’ll drive.” She didn’t give him a chance to open the door for her, crawling into the back seat and pulling out the uniform she had stashed there. 

She’d made sure to wear the black bra for Pepper, it looked nice against her skin she’d been told. Pity. “When we get there I want you to watch the perimeter. The car jerked _’eyes on the road’_.” 

Getting into her uniform in tight spaces had always been a trick and she worked with the feet first, laying back so she could get the tight bottom on. She didn’t have the space to hide all her guns with her but that didn’t mean she was defenceless by a long shot. 

The rest of the drive was taken up by her muttering ‘faster faster’ under her breath while she finished a spot check on her uniform. Anything could be happening back at the Expo. If he was smart Tony would try and lead the fighting away from the civilians. There was no question he was genius, but smart not always. 

The guards rushed and Happy said something, she didn’t _care_ what. She was angry and they were a willing target. Natasha didn’t hold back, she dispatched them with extreme prejudice. Her only regret was that they didn’t put up enough of a fight. They were not trained to deal with the likes of her, no one was trained to deal with her. She was too professional to smile, but it was a near thing. 

Vanko was gone, but he had left his systems wide open. 

The remote hack on the War Machine was brilliant, she couldn’t break it but she could reboot it and let JARVIS do all the really heavy lifting. 

“Re-boot complete, you got your best friend back.” The drones had rudimentary scanners, but the combat data running across the screen (as if it being in Russian would slow her) was looking good. Next she called up the link to the Expo, she’d been gone for long enough for one of those machines to have crushed Pepper into the ground. It wasn’t something she needed to worry about. Pepper wasn’t mission essential. “Congrats on the new chest piece, your vitals all look promising.” 

“Thank you very much Agent Romanoff.” 

The link to the Expo connected and she couldn’t tell if Pepper had heard that last bit or not. 

She did hear the last bit about Tony dying. Natasha felt a small cruel vindictive streak as they started to argue. 

“Save it for the honey-moon.” She snapped, the droids were moving in on Stark and Rhodes position. She didn’t have the luxury of letting her emotions get in the way, not when she needed to be Black Widow. 

She didn’t watch Pepper’s reaction, minimizing the feed to focus on the situation with Stark. 

The droids were falling one by one; she’d tuned out most of their bickering, focusing instead of the scrolling data that showed her the fights as it flowed. The droids were going down one by one until Tony’s energy-signature spiked and they all went down at once. 

There was one left, the systems shied away from it as if they didn’t want to have to give her the data. Natasha coaxed it out and gave Stark a heads-up before trying to get a better reading. S.H.I.E.L.D. always needed more information and here was a man who could build things on a level of destruction that rivalled Stark, whom had managed to level small villages on behalf of his country in the past. Fury would have wet himself to have found him first, only what information they dug up on the Monaco incident said that he’d been hiding out until now. Too dull to be on anyone’s radar. 

Tony’s terse ‘ **Pepper** ’ caught her attention. Natasha’s breath caught and Happy’s colourful curses were just background noise as all the feeds were filled with light and sound and she should have been able to see a failsafe. How many dead because she still wasn’t good enough? 

She was still linked into Tony’s communication signal (JARVIS had been snubbing her since she’d been revealed as an agent and she’d needed to get into that the hard way) and started to breathe again when the sound of Pepper’s outraged shrieks echoed in the room. They were arguing again but Natasha was simply soaking up the knowledge that this was mission accomplished, Tony was alive, she had her data and her covered was blown to smoking bits anyways. 

There was a conspicuous silence, a soft almost wet sound. Kissing, of course. 

She’d known that Pepper loved Tony. That much was, and had always been, painfully obvious. Tony loved Pepper too. Objectively Natasha knew how these things worked. 

“The armour is damaged, you’re going to need to go pick them up.” Natasha said in clipped tones. 

“Huh?” Happy blinked and looked at her. Natasha waved a hand at him, indicating he should leave. “Aren’t you coming? You’re uh... clothes are in the back of the car.” 

“I’ll find my own ride home.” 

_Recruitment potential_

_Iron Man: Recommended_

_Tony Stark: Not recommended_

\--

If you tried to find Natalie Rushman you would find an empty apartment and a lot of dead-end credit cards. She vanished off the face of the planet as if she had never been there. This was one cover that she wouldn’t need to be going back too. 

It had been nice while it lasted. Right up there with compartmentalization was ‘move on’ lingering got people killed. Natasha should know. 

She tried to climb Agent Zimmerman to throw her weight around his shoulder and use the rotational force to get behind him but he was too used to sparring with her to let her do something so obvious. He spun with her instead trying to get his arms around her. 

Natasha got her legs around his waist and let her weight go limp, he was off balance from the spin and they both fell to the mat with a thump of displaced air. The gym in the helicarrier was cold and crisp, but the gym in the New York building was as old as the city itself and smelled like old sweat, worn into the floors and the mats. Natasha was silent as she wiggled, throwing her weight left as Zimmerman tried to use his superior strength to pin her down. 

They were evenly matched on the ground, he had reach but she was very flexible. They had an audience; she was aware of it but simply chose not to acknowledge them. 

He growled as she brought her thighs up around his shoulders and she reared up with arm slamming her back into the mat. She breathed out with it and barely kept from being winded. He tried again and she swung him sideways slamming him into the mats and swarming up on top of him, twisting his shoulder back up high into a painful wretch while he shouted. “Give give!” 

She let him flop completely limp against the mat. She could have gone easy on him, but that defeated the purpose of sparring. 

Clint clapped slowly. “Always a pleasure to watch you mop the floor with lesser beings.” He called out and she huffed out a short laugh. Agent Zimmerman wisely said nothing. 

“Welcome back.” She called back, leaving her partner on the floor and picking her way over to Clint. He looked tanned, like he’d just did an extended assignment in Arizona actually, the lines of his sunglasses cutting across his face like a reverse raccoon. “How was the mission?” 

“Fucking. Crazy. Shit.” He said back with exaggerated wide eyes. “I kid you not.” 

Natasha cracked a smile, it felt like the first one in a long time. “Come on, let’s spar.” 

“You know every time you toss me around I lose man-credit. I don’t think I have much left to lose at this point.” She let an arched eyebrow tell him exactly what she thought of his ‘man-credit’. 

“Tag?” 

“Alright.” 

Clint had been back almost a week when it finally came up. He was arguably the person who knew her best and the one person she might admit as her friend. Coulson knew her well enough, but he’d never ask her about her personal life. _Ever_.

“So are you going you going to tell me why you’re sulking?” Natasha was looking forward to being rotated off helicarrier staff, she wanted real food again. Fresh fruit and tiny hole in the wall burger joints that made America so much better to live in than rural Russia. 

“No.” She said sipping her coffee. She also missed Starbucks even if they brewed the right coffee it wasn’t the same as indulging in a frapp. 

“That’s a pity because I want to know.” Clint just raised an eyebrow. Interrogation and counter-interrogation, they could do this for hours, days even if they were bored enough. 

“Nothing to know.” She replied simply. 

“Really? Cause you haven’t said a single word about the mission yet and even Coulson had _words_ to say about Tony Stark.” 

“Tony Stark is a piz’da.” She said, taking another demure sip. 

“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Clint smirked at her. She didn’t bother to answer because it was a stupid question and he knew the answer already. After a pause he sort of squinted at her and he had to know just how dumb the raccoon tan looked when he did that. “So did you sleep with him?” It was faintly irritating that she couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not, but she knows better than to rise to his bait. 

“Repeatedly.” She drawled, “he’s like some sort of god of sex, well hung.” 

Clint smirked at her. 

“And he’s rich.” She said and Clint outright laughed. 

“Okay, okay. I get it. Tony Stark is _oslayob_.” Clint’s Russian was flawless. At least when he swore. 

It wasn’t always about Tony, Tony may think it was all about him and the world couldn’t help but agree. Of course she had gotten to see a little more. Pepper, Happy, Colonel Rhodes, the purely human elements that Tony hadn’t found a way to replace with wiring yet. 

Clint for all appearances dropped the matter. Natasha knew better, it was more of a biding game, but more importantly she was confident in her ability to resist any pitiful sort of interrogation that Clint would try. Clint never had the tact nor the delicacy for the kind of interrogations that made up the bulk of Natasha’s job. 

What she didn’t count on was cheap cherry schnapps. You could buy it in the litres. 

Natasha could get drunk, it was all a suppression of the central nervous-system a physiological response at the very best, it just took quite a bit of effort. She’d since trained herself out of the most obvious symptoms despite her relatively low mass. She understood this. She did. 

Natasha swayed, clutching the bottle tight and grit her teeth against the way the world spun when she closed her eyes. This was probably Clint’s fault. 

He leaned heavily against her, trusting her to keep them vertical. She had liberated the bottle from behind the bar of the last pub they hit because it was a slightly longer walk to the next one. It had seemed like a good idea at the time and she got a kick out of casually sauntering behind the bar, no one questioned her when she poured a pint from the tap and took the money from some co-ed for it. Then she snatched the bottle of schnapps and sauntered back to their table where Clint was watching her with a faint smirk. 

_“That’s called stealing you know.”_

_“Criminal negligence at best.”_ She replied smartly. 

They shot the shit (and he nailed it every time), Clint mocked Coulson mercilessly and Natasha loved him for it as much as she is fond of her handler his obsession with composure was irritating from time to time. Clint was shipping to oversee the construction of a new facility. It would be impossible to tell when he would come back. They needed to live it up in the moments where they could. 

They paused in the puddle of light under a streetlamp. Down the street a group of men was staggering and singing loudly off key. 

“Did you sleep with Stark?” He asked, and it was out of the blue enough to prompt a snort out of her. 

“No.” She said flatly. She didn’t make it a habit to sleep with her marks; you never knew when they were going to be your next enemy. Well almost never. None that lived through it anyways. 

“Your report reads like a woman scorned.” Clint’s words were clipped and he had to be just as drunk as she was. As far as intelligence tactics went it was sloppy. Yet effective. 

“He’s actually that bad.” She said, letting the words roll off her tongue. Her mouth had gone numb already and she was careful to pick her words letting them roll around in her mouth for a moment before letting them fly. She was drunk and she could admit to herself in that moment that maybe she may have liked Pepper a lot more than any of the other people she casually slept with. There had been potential there. 

“Hm.” He hummed, like he could know there was something she wasn’t telling him. “Fine, trade you, did you hear about Maria Hill’s last shore leave?” 

Natasha smirked and took a shot from the bottle, passing it to Clint. 

“Do tell.” 

~~

“You. Hey, lying-liar-lady.” Natasha stopped in the hall and listened to the tell-tale shuffle step of expensive shoes and knew that it was none other than Tony Stark, as if the name calling didn’t give it away. 

“Yes Mr. Stark?”

“Hey, that’s cold. Which, I guess being a lying ninja assassin you would know all about.” He said and Natasha sighed, turning around to face him. 

Tony looked better, healthier around the edges, he was beginning to gain back the weight he’d lost during the palladium incident. “What do you want?”

“I wanted to ask you something.” He rocked on his feet, looking at her over his glasses. He was dressed to kill today all pin-stripe and freshly shaven. “Narcissistic, really?” 

Natasha snarled something wordless at him and spun on her heels to escape. “Pepper says hi!” He called after her retreating back and she could hear the smirk in his words. Didn’t want to guess how much he knew.

She didn’t see what Pepper saw in him at all. Maybe he really was hung like a horse (intelligence said probably otherwise). 

Clint was away on assignment and Tony was in New York to begin construction on a new tower and that meant he was free to drop by and consult on some plans to minimize the size of their transports. 

She didn’t expect to run into Pepper in the lobby. Her hair was a little longer; the front pinned back and left to flow down the trim lines of her suit jacket. Natasha was suddenly aware that her own last hair cut had been a touch dramatic chopping off a lot of the extra weight.

“Nat,” she said with a warm smile and Natasha smiled back, striding across the foyer to see her. “Natasha, I’m going to guess your last name isn’t even Rushman, but I’m not supposed to know that am I?” Pepper blinked at her. 

“Romanoff, Natasha Romanoff.” Natasha said instead holding out her hand. Pepper shoot it. 

It was absurdly formal for the fact that she knew what Pepper’s sweat tasted like and what her fiery hair looked like spread across the bed. It was ridiculous, she should have seen this coming and here it was. Just like last time she didn’t know exactly what to do and so she just held Pepper’s hand like that as S.H.I.E.L.D. staff moved around them. 

“Ms. Romanoff, since you _definitely_ don’t work for me now, would you like to meet me for dinner? I took the luxury of asking Phil about your schedule after I had Tony hack in and see that he was your handler. I was going to call, but I’ve bumped into you here.” Pepper pursed her lips. 

Natasha felt her mouth quirk into a smile. She should probably he irritated. She was off-centre and Tony was hacking into things he should keep his fingers out of and Pepper was treating asking her out to dinner like it was an intelligence operation. 

“Just to let you know, I plan to be angry about you lying to me later.”

“Shall I pencil it into your diary Ms. Potts?” 

“JARVIS has taken care of it. Right after dessert and before sex.” 

In retrospect some of her best decisions had been made on the fly when she was completely out of control. ‘Come _with_ me’ Clint’s knife pressed against her throat both of them bruised and bloody, her breath rattling in her chest alarmingly from a few broken ribs and the authorities pressing in. 

“Okay.” This one seemed like a bad idea for the books.


End file.
